Which is exactly why some distros (well, my SuSE box at least) installed Firefox expicitly as a 32-bit binary, even if almost everything else on the machine is 64-bit.
(Now I just wish they did the same with the media players, for the Win32 codecs and such, as I was forced to compile my own to get that working)
Actually, if you're lucky enough to work for a company that doesn't force you to use Windows, you may still find yourself forced to use MS Office. It has become the de facto standard, and OpenOffice is *not* a viable alternative if you need perfect compatability. (this becomes especially apparent once you start using advanced features of MS Word like change tracking) Then again, if you don't need to exchange complex documents with the outside world, OpenOffice works just fine.
I happen to work for an office that basically lets you use what you want. About half of us are Windows users, and the other half are Mac users (self included). Everyone has MS Office on their machine. (For a brief period, I tried loading SLED 10 on a laptop to see how well it would work, using a trial of Crossover Office for the MS Office bits. It actually worked fairly well, and I could probably make it work for me if I ever had to give up the PowerBook.)
Cedega certainly does NOT play most games pretty well. It plays whatever 3-4 games are "considered to be popular" by the vocal majority of their subscriber base, pretty well. Screw everyone else. (you'll see enough comments at people pissed off over this) It almost feels as if Cedega is just making scores of game-specific hacks and workarounds, without improving the overall level of Windows compatability.
While I technically still have a Cedega subscription, it seems as though I still have to reboot into Windows for almost anything I might actually want to play.
So how do you get around the problem of being all sweaty and icky when you get to work? (Oh, and what if it rains? Then again, the chances of that depend a lot on where you live.)
I dated someone nearly that far away for the better part of a year. Probably my most successful relationship to-date, and I didn't meet her online. Then again, the biggest problem with distance (besides that it gets annoying after a while) is that it forces the relationship to get serious a bit too quickly. The drive is too long for casual dating, but it does work if you spend weekends in each other's towns.
Also, the code that runs on those slot machines is independently certified by an external organization. (called the Gaming Control Board, or something like that) Then again, people are the weakest link, as I once saw a TV documentary on how a crooked GCB employee was able to sneak a backdoor into those slot machines by tampering with the verification equipment.
I ranted about this a while back in my blog. Basically using laptops in airports has 2 problems. Power and internet access. Neither of these has a good solution.
For power, there are nowhere near enough outlets. What little outlets you can find, are always either taken, or otherwise have people sitting around them blocking your access. This is the most annoying problem of all, since what you really want to do at an airport is top off your battery before the flight. Why? Well, even though some morons say "all airplanes now have DC power jacks", the truth is that almost none of them do. (the last time I found one was on an Orlando->Atlanta flight, which is under an hour, and pointless, and found none on the trans-atlantic flight that followed)
For internet access, everyone wants to nickel and dime you for service. This really bugs me, because while $6.95/day may seem like a fair price, I'm only there for an hour or two. (and the extended plans are useless unless I frequent the same exact trip regularly) All I really want is a quick E-Mail check, and maybe an IM or two. Thankfully, I can do that with my cell phone now. By the time I get lunch/dinner, get my laptop out, find power, discover their blocked access points, it's 20 minutes until boarding.
These are the definitions of a "PC" that I'm willing to accept: - Personal Computer (anything intended for a normal end-user, so "workstations" are excluded) - General purpose computers whose architectures are derivatives of the IBM PC (this would include anything x86/w BIOS... Intel-based Macs may or may not qualify, given that they are a bit architecturally different from normal PCs with their EFI firmware)
It infuriates me to no end that "PC" is used when people don't want to say "MS Windows". They think that somehow "PC" is mutially exclusive with anything !Windows. This is especially annoying since there are probably more operating systems written for my second definition of "PC" than just about any other general-purpose computer architecture.
You don't need NAT for a firewall that blocks inbound connections. There is no reason that Linksys, etc, couldn't make a "firewall" that just bridges networks and blocks inbound connections.
And people who have become "comfortable with NAT" because they don't understand firewalls and routers (neither of which implies NAT) are probably going to be one of the more annoying hurdles to IPv6 adoption. Evil things like NAT totally break the end-to-end connectivity paradigm of the Internet, and make it only useful for client-server interactions.
Unfortunately, I have to agree. I use Eclipse on some C++ projects, simply because I like the GUI, project file tree (Emacs gets very annoying across larger source trees), and CVS integration. However, I've had to turn off most of CDT's features because they are just too damn painful. Every time I try to do something that would trigger an auto-complete drop-down, the system strains and stalls for a while before it maybe gives me an accurate list of choices. I also had to stop building from within Eclipse, since my project used makefiles that generated absurly long command lines (lots of stuff to include/link). These got trunkated in Eclipse and bombed out, but worked just fine in a shell window.
Of course in Java-land, Eclipse is wonderful. It may feel a bit less polished than NetBeans, but IMHO beats it on some useful features (like while-you-code error checking across files).
> I've thought about the idea of using extra registers in 32-bit mode.... but the resulting > binary wouldn't run on an ordinary x86 anymore since it would address registers that don't > exist. And once you're incompatible, you have a new architecture. Which we could then call > x86-64... bringing us back to where we started;)
Actually, you wouldn't be completely incompatible. Of course this is all assuming that you could use the extra AMD64 features in 32-bit mode (which I'm not sure you can). The point is that while having a 64-bit kernel requires all drivers that touch the kernel to be 64-bit, the same isn't required of userland apps.
The whole point of being able to build 32-bit apps on AMD64 using the extra features is that you would be able to optionally use those features. (However, you would still be able to link against libraries that don't) If you go 64-bit, then you cannot link with ant 32-bit stuff.
Because all these Linux users just discovered "64-bit" yesterday, and don't understand that it can actually co-exist with "32-bit" stuff on the same kernel, and the same userland (no, you do NOT need to chroot it), and only needs a different set of libraries (i.e. "/usr/lib" vs "/usr/lib64").
Solaris, for example, has been 64-bit for quite some time. However, even with a 64-bit kernel & drivers, most of the userland is still 32-bit. They provide 64-bit versions of the necessary libraries, however, so that you can build 64-bit applications when it benefits you. (and when it doesn't benefit you, its just wasteful of system resources)
Then again, SPARC isn't as braindead as classic x86, and you can build 32-bit SPARC binaries that take advantage of all the extra instructions of the sparcv9 (UltraSPARC/64-bit) architecture. x86_64 added a lot of things beyond 64-bit'ness that probably improves performance, but I wonder how much of that (i.e. like extra registers), if any of it, you could even use in 32-bit code.
Yeah, but good luck finding power for your laptop on the plane, or even in the terminal for that matter. I still remember a flight I took to Germany 2 years ago, where there were plenty of power sockets on the 56 minute flight to Atlanta, but nothing on the actual trans-atlantic flight.
Heck, I ranted about all these various problems in my blog not too long ago. It basically comes down to everyone wanting to act like they support laptop users, but no one actually doing so in a convenient/usable way. (that includes both power and internet connectivity)
IMHO, the Sun Ray has just about everything you could ever want out of a thin client. It's essentially a stateless box that you NEVER have to upgrade, and you can hot-desk sessions between them. Between models, the differences usually have more to do with integrated peripherals or I/O ports than anything else.
They even do audio decently, which is pretty nice. (and support USB peripherals beyond the kbd/mouse, etc.) Their only weak spot is video (and flash on web pages). Video could be fast if it used the right APIs, but the *only* program I've seen that does this is Sun's now defunct "ShowMe TV" app.
And surely you must agree that regularly firing rockets across the border towards civilian targets in Israel is acceptable behavior? Sure, Hezbolla is launching a lot more rockets today than in the past, but they have been firing rockets at northern Israel for YEARS. Those abductions were just the final straw.
I have to agree about indenting... I've never used any editor that does it as well as Emacs, and often wish I could turn on "Emacs-style indent mode" in Eclipse.
However the reason I lean towards IDEs like Eclipse today, is that while Emacs may be a wonderful editor, it gets really painful really fast when you're navigating across a project with many files in many directories.
What, exactly, is the point of ATA-over-Ethernet? Honestly it sounds like a stupid idea, whose only merit is being implemented by someone and getting a Slashdot post about it. (oh, and by supporting Linux first)
If you want a real external storage solution, there are plenty of better technologies... If you must use Ethernet for your interconnect, just use iSCSI (who cares what the drives are). Remember, you're not having drives talking naked over the wire to the server anyways most of the time.
Client-side certificates work just fine in non-MS browsers and E-Mail clients. The problem, as mentioned in other posts, is in certificate distribution. All these other browsers do support installing client certificates off of websites, but often you'll find a site that insists on some weird ActiveX crap to handle certificate installation. Where I work, this is especially frustrating, as we have a lot of Mac users (including myself). So, we find a Windows machine, go through the process, export the certificates/keys, sneakernet them to our systems, and install them.
Well, geeks will only spread Linux to their families if they want to be eternally on the hook for support. Personally, I take a very hands-off approach to tech support for my family. Why? Well, I see supporting your family's IT needs as a double-edged sword. If you help once in a while, they're happy. If you make them dependent on you whenever a problem occurs, and you can't/don't-want-to be on the hook all the time, no one is happy.
So yes, the advantage of having them stick with Windows (or MacOS) is that day-to-day tech support is "someone else's problem." You can help when you're around, but you don't "have to help" when you're not.
You might say that Linux "gets rid of annoying Windows problems," and you may be right. But once the user's needs extend beyond "grandma checking her e-mail," or using all the apps that come with the distribution, Linux can be a hurdle. They can't just install any piece of software or use any random piece of hardware they find at the store, and are less able to "just figure things out" when the system doesn't work correctly. Sure, it may work perfectly day-to-day, but it becomes much more difficult when things break.
Slashdot Mirror
Secondly, Apple does install Java in a way that can host multiple versions:
Happy?
Which is exactly why some distros (well, my SuSE box at least) installed Firefox expicitly as a 32-bit binary, even if almost everything else on the machine is 64-bit.
(Now I just wish they did the same with the media players, for the Win32 codecs and such, as I was forced to compile my own to get that working)
Actually, if you're lucky enough to work for a company that doesn't force you to use Windows, you may still find yourself forced to use MS Office. It has become the de facto standard, and OpenOffice is *not* a viable alternative if you need perfect compatability. (this becomes especially apparent once you start using advanced features of MS Word like change tracking) Then again, if you don't need to exchange complex documents with the outside world, OpenOffice works just fine.
I happen to work for an office that basically lets you use what you want. About half of us are Windows users, and the other half are Mac users (self included). Everyone has MS Office on their machine. (For a brief period, I tried loading SLED 10 on a laptop to see how well it would work, using a trial of Crossover Office for the MS Office bits. It actually worked fairly well, and I could probably make it work for me if I ever had to give up the PowerBook.)
Cedega certainly does NOT play most games pretty well. It plays whatever 3-4 games are "considered to be popular" by the vocal majority of their subscriber base, pretty well. Screw everyone else. (you'll see enough comments at people pissed off over this) It almost feels as if Cedega is just making scores of game-specific hacks and workarounds, without improving the overall level of Windows compatability.
While I technically still have a Cedega subscription, it seems as though I still have to reboot into Windows for almost anything I might actually want to play.
So how do you get around the problem of being all sweaty and icky when you get to work?
(Oh, and what if it rains? Then again, the chances of that depend a lot on where you live.)
I once knew someone who liked to refer to them by the exact opposite of their name:
Astrohard
I dated someone nearly that far away for the better part of a year. Probably my most successful relationship to-date, and I didn't meet her online. Then again, the biggest problem with distance (besides that it gets annoying after a while) is that it forces the relationship to get serious a bit too quickly. The drive is too long for casual dating, but it does work if you spend weekends in each other's towns.
Also, the code that runs on those slot machines is independently certified by an external organization. (called the Gaming Control Board, or something like that) Then again, people are the weakest link, as I once saw a TV documentary on how a crooked GCB employee was able to sneak a backdoor into those slot machines by tampering with the verification equipment.
I ranted about this a while back in my blog. Basically using laptops in airports has 2 problems. Power and internet access. Neither of these has a good solution.
For power, there are nowhere near enough outlets. What little outlets you can find, are always either taken, or otherwise have people sitting around them blocking your access. This is the most annoying problem of all, since what you really want to do at an airport is top off your battery before the flight. Why? Well, even though some morons say "all airplanes now have DC power jacks", the truth is that almost none of them do. (the last time I found one was on an Orlando->Atlanta flight, which is under an hour, and pointless, and found none on the trans-atlantic flight that followed)
For internet access, everyone wants to nickel and dime you for service. This really bugs me, because while $6.95/day may seem like a fair price, I'm only there for an hour or two. (and the extended plans are useless unless I frequent the same exact trip regularly) All I really want is a quick E-Mail check, and maybe an IM or two. Thankfully, I can do that with my cell phone now. By the time I get lunch/dinner, get my laptop out, find power, discover their blocked access points, it's 20 minutes until boarding.
These are the definitions of a "PC" that I'm willing to accept: /w BIOS... Intel-based Macs may or may not qualify, given that they are a bit architecturally different from normal PCs with their EFI firmware)
- Personal Computer (anything intended for a normal end-user, so "workstations" are excluded)
- General purpose computers whose architectures are derivatives of the IBM PC (this would include anything x86
It infuriates me to no end that "PC" is used when people don't want to say "MS Windows". They think that somehow "PC" is mutially exclusive with anything !Windows. This is especially annoying since there are probably more operating systems written for my second definition of "PC" than just about any other general-purpose computer architecture.
You don't need NAT for a firewall that blocks inbound connections. There is no reason that Linksys, etc, couldn't make a "firewall" that just bridges networks and blocks inbound connections.
Heck, even Windows XP supports IPv6. (it just isn't enabled by default)
And people who have become "comfortable with NAT" because they don't understand firewalls and routers (neither of which implies NAT) are probably going to be one of the more annoying hurdles to IPv6 adoption. Evil things like NAT totally break the end-to-end connectivity paradigm of the Internet, and make it only useful for client-server interactions.
> The Eclipse CDT is a joke
Unfortunately, I have to agree. I use Eclipse on some C++ projects, simply because I like the GUI, project file tree (Emacs gets very annoying across larger source trees), and CVS integration. However, I've had to turn off most of CDT's features because they are just too damn painful. Every time I try to do something that would trigger an auto-complete drop-down, the system strains and stalls for a while before it maybe gives me an accurate list of choices. I also had to stop building from within Eclipse, since my project used makefiles that generated absurly long command lines (lots of stuff to include/link). These got trunkated in Eclipse and bombed out, but worked just fine in a shell window.
Of course in Java-land, Eclipse is wonderful. It may feel a bit less polished than NetBeans, but IMHO beats it on some useful features (like while-you-code error checking across files).
> I've thought about the idea of using extra registers in 32-bit mode.... but the resulting > binary wouldn't run on an ordinary x86 anymore since it would address registers that don't > exist. And once you're incompatible, you have a new architecture. Which we could then call > x86-64... bringing us back to where we started ;)
Actually, you wouldn't be completely incompatible. Of course this is all assuming that you could use the extra AMD64 features in 32-bit mode (which I'm not sure you can). The point is that while having a 64-bit kernel requires all drivers that touch the kernel to be 64-bit, the same isn't required of userland apps.
The whole point of being able to build 32-bit apps on AMD64 using the extra features is that you would be able to optionally use those features. (However, you would still be able to link against libraries that don't) If you go 64-bit, then you cannot link with ant 32-bit stuff.
Because all these Linux users just discovered "64-bit" yesterday, and don't understand that it can actually co-exist with "32-bit" stuff on the same kernel, and the same userland (no, you do NOT need to chroot it), and only needs a different set of libraries (i.e. "/usr/lib" vs "/usr/lib64").
Solaris, for example, has been 64-bit for quite some time. However, even with a 64-bit kernel & drivers, most of the userland is still 32-bit. They provide 64-bit versions of the necessary libraries, however, so that you can build 64-bit applications when it benefits you. (and when it doesn't benefit you, its just wasteful of system resources)
Then again, SPARC isn't as braindead as classic x86, and you can build 32-bit SPARC binaries that take advantage of all the extra instructions of the sparcv9 (UltraSPARC/64-bit) architecture. x86_64 added a lot of things beyond 64-bit'ness that probably improves performance, but I wonder how much of that (i.e. like extra registers), if any of it, you could even use in 32-bit code.
Last I checked, those already exist. The DVRs that DirectTV provides are TiVo units that record the MPEG2 stream.
Yeah, but good luck finding power for your laptop on the plane, or even in the terminal for that matter. I still remember a flight I took to Germany 2 years ago, where there were plenty of power sockets on the 56 minute flight to Atlanta, but nothing on the actual trans-atlantic flight.
Heck, I ranted about all these various problems in my blog not too long ago. It basically comes down to everyone wanting to act like they support laptop users, but no one actually doing so in a convenient/usable way. (that includes both power and internet connectivity)
IMHO, the Sun Ray has just about everything you could ever want out of a thin client. It's essentially a stateless box that you NEVER have to upgrade, and you can hot-desk sessions between them. Between models, the differences usually have more to do with integrated peripherals or I/O ports than anything else.
They even do audio decently, which is pretty nice. (and support USB peripherals beyond the kbd/mouse, etc.) Their only weak spot is video (and flash on web pages). Video could be fast if it used the right APIs, but the *only* program I've seen that does this is Sun's now defunct "ShowMe TV" app.
And surely you must agree that regularly firing rockets across the border towards civilian targets in Israel is acceptable behavior? Sure, Hezbolla is launching a lot more rockets today than in the past, but they have been firing rockets at northern Israel for YEARS. Those abductions were just the final straw.
I have to agree about indenting... I've never used any editor that does it as well as Emacs, and often wish I could turn on "Emacs-style indent mode" in Eclipse.
However the reason I lean towards IDEs like Eclipse today, is that while Emacs may be a wonderful editor, it gets really painful really fast when you're navigating across a project with many files in many directories.
One could even think of Eclipse as being the "EMACS of the 21st Century," given how its big and flexible, with a gazillion plugins.
What, exactly, is the point of ATA-over-Ethernet? Honestly it sounds like a stupid idea, whose only merit is being implemented by someone and getting a Slashdot post about it. (oh, and by supporting Linux first)
If you want a real external storage solution, there are plenty of better technologies... If you must use Ethernet for your interconnect, just use iSCSI (who cares what the drives are). Remember, you're not having drives talking naked over the wire to the server anyways most of the time.
Client-side certificates work just fine in non-MS browsers and E-Mail clients. The problem, as mentioned in other posts, is in certificate distribution. All these other browsers do support installing client certificates off of websites, but often you'll find a site that insists on some weird ActiveX crap to handle certificate installation. Where I work, this is especially frustrating, as we have a lot of Mac users (including myself). So, we find a Windows machine, go through the process, export the certificates/keys, sneakernet them to our systems, and install them.
Well, geeks will only spread Linux to their families if they want to be eternally on the hook for support. Personally, I take a very hands-off approach to tech support for my family. Why? Well, I see supporting your family's IT needs as a double-edged sword. If you help once in a while, they're happy. If you make them dependent on you whenever a problem occurs, and you can't/don't-want-to be on the hook all the time, no one is happy.
So yes, the advantage of having them stick with Windows (or MacOS) is that day-to-day tech support is "someone else's problem." You can help when you're around, but you don't "have to help" when you're not.
You might say that Linux "gets rid of annoying Windows problems," and you may be right. But once the user's needs extend beyond "grandma checking her e-mail," or using all the apps that come with the distribution, Linux can be a hurdle. They can't just install any piece of software or use any random piece of hardware they find at the store, and are less able to "just figure things out" when the system doesn't work correctly. Sure, it may work perfectly day-to-day, but it becomes much more difficult when things break.